Drina Carbajal, who owns this mobile home at Highview Mobile Home Community, was in the process of remodeling it when she learned that someone else had paid a tax lien on the property and taken ownership. That person sold it to a third party, who demanded that Carbajal and her family either pay $8,000 to buy it back or face eviction.

Mobile homes should not accrue tax liens any more than they should be taxed as real estate, because they’re not real property at all — they’re personal property, unattached to the land, movable, depreciating assets. Any taxes levied on them should be sales taxes only at the time of purchase. The counties don’t tax RVs or SUVs or similar vehicles as real estate and the same law should apply to mobile homes. Jeesh, how many wicked ways we devise to hurt the poor!

Susan Williams,Lakewood

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Krista Kafer’s column on oil and gas drilling regulations states that 500-foot setbacks from homes “shield homeowners from the noise, diesel fumes and sight of heavy machinery.” Nothing could be further from the truth.